Spotify 0.3.23 – Related Artists

We’re in the process of releasing an update to Spotify, version 0.3.23. We’ve made some minor bug fixes and added password protection to download purchases which you can modify in the preferences menu.

The other main change with this release is the addition of a ‘Related artists’ tab to the artist view.

This feature is pretty exciting for us as it’s the first time we’ve used our own data to power recommendations. Previously we’ve used genre and artist tagging from AllMusic for related artists which worked well, but did not cover a large portion of our catalogue. What we’ve done now is to go through months and months of listening data and look closely at what people listen to.

This allows us to see that users who listen to a lot of The Rolling Stones, for example, are also big fans of Iggy Pop or The Byrds. The new feature pulls some of this information together to show you a range of related artists in one tab.

The ‘Related artist’ tab is the first of many uses for this data and we hope you’ll be able to find some great new bands you might not have otherwise heard of.

I beg you, please add an option to avoid the pauses between tracks. When you´re listening a song divided in two or more tracks the interruption is frustrating. This is annoying if you´re listening an LP without transition between tracks.

its great finding far more bands and music, that i haven’t come across before, but on the side bar i like to tidy it up, by making files,so i can drag and drop from the the side bar,in to bands etc, or sort of music, that it is,

could you make classical music a bit better to find as its not that easy, and i know there is some interesting stuff out there, like Mozart for example, there could be links

or even, where you have new music, could there be different, type of music like rock classic, jazz rb folk, indie etc

I like the new function, but I wish you kept the old feature as well, as it introduced me to a lot of new bands within the genre I was listening to.

Whilst the new function does this as well, it does this based on bands popularity, which, it seems to me, makes it harder to break a cycle of recomendations.

For example, while listening to the Beastie Boys, two related artists were Wolfmother. Sure, it’s a good piece of information for those who haven’t heard of the bands before. But to present them as related to the Beastie Boys, more than a whole bunch of other bands and artists out there, is pretty useless and can be aggrivating for someone trying to explore a genre.

The old function, I believe, was purely based on genres, and my wish it that this is updated to mirror your catalogue and given as another option to discover new music.

Anyone know how often this is updated? I sit updated at all?
In what way does this feature work?
Is it only “litsening” or is it from playlists where one artis is together with other artist?
How many percent of the litseners must have the same combination of artists for this to be a “related artist”? Or is one enough for it to match up two artists?

I can in some cases really see this gives a very strange “matchup”. Thats why i ask.

However. This feature should really be updated often… to be as accurate as possible i guess.

[…] to discover new artists, and I share my music finds on my social media channels for that reason. By the way, the “Related Artists” function on Spotify is a fantastic way to discover new… The world is so big, and there are so many talented individuals in the world who strive to make […]